The Making of the Green

If you don't know by now, green is one of my very favorite colors. It's also a hard color to find in both fabric and clothing. Believe me, when I see a pretty garment that fits or a nice fabric in green(s) I'm on it. Fabric of Vision had a beautiful jacquard woven cotton sateen fabric that I just loved and yesterday I cut into it for another Shapely

Blouse.

It's full bodied with great drape and is a pleasure to work with.

I'm wishing they had it in more colors than just this green and a pretty red. I didn't go for the red, as I have other reds in the shirt stash. Maybe I should reconsider that decision. The fabric is so nice.

The first sleeve was done and ready to sew into the arm hole before I packed it in for the day to feed everyone. I didn't want a french cuff on this, just a regular cuff and knew pretty much how I wanted to do this but just in case, I checked with my sewing bible to see if there was a way for a cuff set-up I might like more.

That got me thinking. Many people have commented how they have started or are getting ready to sew again after a long hiatus. I know I took quite a break and even at that, garment sewing was not my forte. So where do I go for information? My sewing bible is an oldie but goodie, Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing ( and it is!), early 80's edition.

It is far better than the newest one which cut out a whole section on garment tailoring and sewing for the home. What Lundell's or Osterkamps's books are weaving, this book is to the home sewist. I couldn't and wouldn't sew without it. You can still get used copies on Amazon. The second book is Clare Shaeffer's Fabric Sewing Guide.

In it she lists just about every fabric known to man and how to sew it. What needle to use, what it's good for, tips and tricks for dealing with it and how to care for it after you've made something beautiful. An indispensable resource. Third up is Sandra Betzina's Power Sewing.

She takes you through each type garment (skirts, pants,etc), how to construct it and why you do what you do with it. Tips and tricks are taken from the garment industry, and often they make construction quite a bit easier. The fourth book you've already seen, The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques. Special treatments and beautiful couture finishes for a special garment or how to make one special!

Now weavers, don't despair, I have been busy although my time weaving yesterday was sucked up by trying to wind a skein of fine silk onto a cone for the scarf warp. I'm sure you've all run into that rogue skein that was just tied up and handled poorly. I swear it took me 40 minutes to get it all untangled from itself and onto the cone. By that point I was tired and cranky and needed some lunch. It may have been the cheese, crackers and fruit but all the dogs came over to "sooth" me......and lick my plate clean.

Parting shot: Clean Ears, the canine equivalent to clean underwear I'm sure.

Shiny Shiny!

The lovely silk warp is threaded and awaiting sleying on Hey Baby!. I can't get over how shiny and difficult it is to get nice pics because of that. But I did my best since it is such a pretty warp. I might name it Sister Goldenhair, because that's what comes to mind when I look at it. It warped on like a dream. Unlike the fine cotton warp, the silk has weight and body and threading it was easy too. The pinwheel pattern will be quite subtle since I've chosen a variegated and a solid both with the same sunny yellow, but I'm hoping the greens and taupe's in the multicolored yarn will carry the day.

The scarf worked out to be 10" when all was said and done although it might get a little narrower if I decide to sley a bit closer. I have enough on for a wee bit of sampling.

Rhonda the dress form saw a little activity yesterday too. I pulled this lovely Colette pattern from my binder and started a little fitting to see which size I should commit to.

The fabric I'm using is a soft shot cotton woven like a color changing silk. Tan on the warp, dark indigo on the weft.

If it had the silk shine it would do that iridescent thing, but is still quite pretty with the shade of tan shot through. I like it. The Colette pattern itself is a treasure. Printed on heavy card stock the directions come in book form.

Just a beautiful idea and the patterns are all geared for curvy figures. Of course I am past curvy and might be heading towards lumpy, but you get the idea! Here I'm trying to decide if I want to change the neckline to a sweetheart style or leave the keyhole. Either way the front neckline is too high for my comfort and will be graded lower.

The Postman brought some fabric yesterday.

The gold I'm disappointed in, it's a bit brighter than it seemed on screen, but the grey cotton twill pant weight fabric is just perfect. I LOVE it. It has a deep magenta stripe running through it

I'll be trying my hand on my first fly front pants and will probably save this for when I have a good working pattern. Maybe sacrifice the yellow for a muslin. The hot pink floral is for a another blouse pattern which calls for a light stretch cotton. It'll be a bright one for sure.

We've had snow on and off since late Monday night/early Tuesday. Quite the change from our spring like 3 weeks of sunshine and temps in the high 40's and 50'sF. It also means an interesting slide down the hill to town this morning. The horses have enjoyed it though. We've both caught them through the day running and playing up a storm. The goats, not so much but they were wandering pretty far looking for browsing. Better than hiding out in their hut or under the trees with the horses.

Parting Shot: Hey, where's my bone!

And Valerie, it's musical bones around here but plenty for all.